Friction drive for tabulating-machine counters



Mar. 6, 1923. A 1,447,872 c. D. LAKE FRICTION DRIVE FOR TABULATINGMACHINE COUNTERS Filed Apr. 2l, 1921 1hr "i pfff/2,

Patented Mar. 5, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLAIR DENNISON LAKE, 0F BINGHAMTDN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 THE TABULATING MACHINE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

FRICTION DRIVE FOR TABULATING-MACHINE COUNTERS.

Application filed April 21, 1921. Serial No. 463,199.

To u/l whom it may concern.'

lie it known that l. CLAIR I). LAKE, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Binghamton` in the county of Broome and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in FrictionDrives for Tahulating-Machine Counters. of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description.

The invention subject of my present application is au improven'ient infriction drives for the counters of tabulating or other like machines,and is based upon a modified i'orm of such device, the original of whichis shown and described in a companion ap pliration iled .\pril 2l. 1921.

l"or a more ready understanding of the nature and purpose of thislimprovement a certain amount of information with regard lo tabulatiugmachines and counters therei'or is necessary. and for such information Ima)v refer to my latent No. 1.307.740, dated June 24. 191i). aud tothe-now well known and widely used Hollerith tabulator.

ln the case of such machines, a series of punched cards are run throughunder contact brushes and when a brush passes over a perforation itcloses a circuit that operates a magnet in the counter at such point ina given c vele of operation as corresponds to the numerical value ofthat particular hole` id this magnet efl'ects an operation of thecounter b v which the units, tens or other heel of thel device is turnedto display or record such number. For example. if a card has the 9 holepunched in the units column. and the next. card the (5 hole in the samecolumn, the counter wheel will first indicate 5? units and then l tenand 5 units or the sum of the two numbers, and so on. vcle ot' operationin such counters is usually one complete revolution of the counter driveshaft and occurs once during the passage of a single card through themachine or under the brushes.

ln these counters heretofore constructed the control of the type orindicatingr counter wheels by which they are caused to display or recordthe proper figures correv sponding to the punched holes in a card orseries of cards. is effected hv the use of clutch mechanisms of variouskinds which.

lock and release the counter wheel or wheels driving the saine at thopropel' instants of time in a cyclo, and such mechanisms involve more orless complication and a great number of parts, besides being somewhatdelicate and liable to derangement. I have, therefore, sought to provideanother means for driving or rotating the counter wheels, and in thislapplication I shall set forth and describe one form of apparatus inwhich this is accomplished by means of a friction drive.

` In the drawings hereto annexed I have shown only the Counter mechanismproper, assuming that the tabulating machine with which it isdesigned tobe used is sufficiently well known to require no special descrip.' tionor illustration. I have. moreover` assumed that these counters generallyare so well known-that I have not illustrated the specific constructionin detail but have shown thc working parts mainly in their theoretical.rather than in their actual physical. relations.

The drawings. therefore, show inrFig. 1 the mechanism of the counterassembled in its proper theoretical relations.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2.2 of Fig. l, and

Fig. 3 is an end view of a part of the driving gea-r and attached parts.

In my application above referred to the frictionally driven counter isdesigned to work with a tabulating machim` in which the cards are passedthrough the machine or under the brushes in an inverted position orupside down, while in the present case the tahulator cards are fed rightside up, so that the 9 holes or those of highest numerical value passfirst under the brushes.l and in this as in most machines of thischaracter, there is a positive stop position of the mechanism whichoccurs at a predetermined time with reference to the position of a cardwith reference to the brushes.

Referring now to the drawings: 1 is the drive shaft impelled b v anysuitable source of power. and usually disconnected from the power whenno cards are passing. in order to save unnecessary wear. On this shaft,as shown in Fig. 2. are fixed as man v friction disks 2 as there arecounter wheels. and each of these disks operatively engages with a gearwheel fi loose on the drive shaft and meshing with a gear wheel 4 on ashaft 5.

In each gear wheel 4 is a pin Fi which is in the path of a pin T on aratchet wheel 8 loosely mounted on the shaft 5 and fast to this ratchetwheel 8 is a second and larger ratchet wheel 9.' A pawl 1() is adaptedto engage with the ratchet 9 and a second pawl Itcngages with theratchet wheel 8.

(ln a shaft 12 are thi-ee cams 13, 14 and 15, which are driven at thesaine time and rate as, the drive shaft 1. On ca m 13 travels the end ofa bell crank lever 16 that carries and controls the movements of, a bail1T adapted to engage with and depress spring-actuated -latch levers 18.cani 14 travels an arm 19 that raises and lowers a bail 20 enga inglevers 2l. that carry the pawls 10 an 11,and on cam 15 travels the endof a lever 22 that is fast to a rock shaft 23 to which are fixed pawls24 engaging with the ratchets 9.

Normally the ratchets 9 are held against rotation by the pawls 10.Assuming, however, that a card is passing through the machine which has,say,the three holein a given column punched, thenwvhen this hole passesunder a brush a current is produced that operates to swing the arm 25 bywhat is known as a delayed action, but with regard to which thisapplication is not concerned, and by the engagement of that arm with'the cam surface of a .vertical extension 26 of the pawl 10 the latter ismoved.

This movement releases the pawl from engagement with the vratchet wheel9 and locks it in such position by the engagement therewith of the latchlever 18. This permits the ratchet to turn, its release being effectedat such point in the cycle that it will have permitted the correspondingcounter wheel in gear with it to travel three number spaces by the timethat the lever 16 has reached the high part of cam 13, and therebythrown the bail 17 down, unlatched the pawl 10 and arrested the movementof the ratchet 9.

As the counter mechanism starts up and before a contact has been madethrough a number hole in a card, the bail 20, by the action of cam 14,allows the levers 21, which are held against the bail by springs 27, todrop until they engage sto levers or latches 28, which form one arm 0bell crank levers adapted to be operated by high points 29 on theratchets 8 of another order of units during that part of the cycle whenthe adding wheels of the counterare going from Q to 0 in the window.When the lever 21 is thus unlatched` and this may occur at any timeduring the adding, the lever 21 drops a trifle until it is arrested bythe hail 'fl. but this movement is not sufficient in extent to releasethe awl 10, I

livotally mounte on the sha-ft 5 is a hail 30 adapted to oscillatebetween the pawls 10 and the rat-chets 9. The dropping of the levers 21and of the pawls 10 does not bring the pawls into engagement with thebail 311, however.y but at the carrying part of the cycle the bail 2()meeting the lower point on cam 14, drops to its lowest position and thismovement causes the pawl l1 'to move the ratchet with which it engagesahead one tooth. and by such movev ment to move the pin ahead of pin G,and to bringr the pawl 1U into engagement with the `bail 3U and therebyrelease said pawl from engagement with its ratchet. t,

Prior to. this action the lever 22 has reached the low )oint on cam 15and has brought the overthrow lock or pawl 24 into engagement with atooth of the ratchet 9, so that ultimately the pin 6 will catch up withand reengage the pin 7. The over throw paw! 24 disengages the ratchet 9during the time that the hail 2() is at its highest position.

Let it now be assumed by way of illustration that the counter or addingwheels register and display at the window 0999,

rand that one unit be added to this total:

the units ratchet will move one tooth or 1/20 of a complete revolutionbecause the ratcheLs are geared to the adding wheels in the ratio of 2to 1, and during this movement a long tooth 29 of ratchet 8 en ages thelatch lever 28 of the units ratclie and allows lever 21 ofthe tellsratchet with which its other end engages to drop. This movement of thetens lever drives the tens ratchet ahead one tooth` which causes a longtooth 29 on that ratchet to engage the latch lever of the tens ratchetto release the lever 21, of the hundredsgratchet, and so on. In this waythe carrying is effected.

The operation of resetting to zero is effected by the following means.The shaft 5 is turned by ahandle 31 through one complete revolution, andat the start of such movement a cam 32, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1,and which is fixed to the shaft 5, raises a lever 33 which is connectedby a link with one of the arms 34 of the bail 110 30, which raises thatbailland thus disengages pawls 10 from the ratchets 9. The adding wheelsdo not start to revolve until a tooth 35 in a collar fixed to shaft 5ens gages a-pawl 36 carried by the rzitchets 9. 115 At the very end ofthe movement of rotation of the shaft 5 thc lever 331 drops into a lowpart of the cam 32 and this permits the hail 30 to drop and the pnwl 10to rc engage these ratchets and thursl prevent ove'r 120 throw. 'lhecomplete resetting to zero is not finally accomplished until the machinestarts again and brings a tooth of ratchet 9 against the pawl 10.

Having now described the plan of con- 126 struction and Inode ofoperation of my improved counter` what. l now claim is:-

1. ln a counter for tabulating machines and the like, the combination ofthe following elements: a main drive shaft, counter 130 -normallylocking r wheels, a counter shaft, gear wheels ooee thereon in mesh withthe gear Wheels on the drive shaft, and ratchet wheels driven by saidgear wheels, pawls normally locking said ratchet wheels, vmeans fordisengxging said pawls therefrom at such points in the cycle ofoperation that the counter wheels will be moved the number of spacescorresponding to the time from that at which the awl was released untilthe pawl is at anot er given point in the cycle restored to engagement,and camcperated means for so restoring the pawl to engagement.

2. In a counter for tabulating machines and the like, the combination ofthe follow ing elements: friction driven counter and connected gearwheels, ratchet wheels in gear with the said connected wheels. pawls theratchet wheels. a cani controlled 'means for bringing said pau'ls intotheir locking position at a given point in each cycle of operation, andmeans for unlocking said paivl at such instants in thc cycle as willpermit the ratchet and counter wheels to turn through ,the desirednumber of spaces before the operation of the camcontrolled lockingrmeans.

3. In a counter for tabulating machines and the like, the combination ofthe following elements: a series of frictionally driven and connectedgear wheels, gear wheels in mesh therewith, two connected ratchet wheelswith oppositely disposed teeth driven by the last named gear Wheels.pau-ls nor mally engaging each of said rati' ict heele4 means forunlocking one of smh paivls at predetermined instants in each cycle.canr controlled means for restoring their engagement at a fixed point ineat-h cycle. cam-controlled means for advancing hy means of the other ofsaid pawls the ratchet wheels one tooth while the firstnamed pan-ls areunlocked, and means controlled h v the ratchets for one order of unitsfor permitting'the advance of such means of thi- Patchets of the nexthigher order of units in the operation of carrying.

4. ln a counter for tahulating machines and the like, the combination ofthe follow in;r elements: a drive shaft and frietionallv driven counterand connected gear wheels therein, a counter shaft, gear wheels meshingwith the counter gear wl eels, two ratcliets with oppositely disposeteeth in fixed relation and driven by the gear wheels in the countershaft, pawls normally engaging both of said ratchet wheels, means forunlocking one of said pawls at the de sired instant, cam-controllcdmeans for restoring said pawls to locking engagement ata given point incach cycle, a bail for unlocking the said paivls. and cam-controlledmeans on the counter-shaft for operatin f said means. whereby, when thecounter-sha t is revolved the counter Wheels may hirc Het to zeroposition, i

c ln testimony' whereof I hereto allix my signature.

CLAI'R UENNISUN LAKE.

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